War or Peace?
3 years, 6 months, 4 days, 1 hour
18 January 2026
If renewables are indeed the power of peace, peace is in the process of choosing us.
‘Renewables and Electric Vehicles are the Power of Peace, and Fossil Fuels are the Power of War. We need to choose Peace.’
So says Tom Rivett-Carnac in Outrage and Optimism Podcast 345: Venezuela, released on 8 January, in a detailed analysis by him and Christiana Figueres of the motives behind the American government’s illegal kidnapping of President Maduro. But Christiana argues that Venezuelan oil is a red herring, and that the whole thing was entirely theatrics by the American president, designed to bolster his political base to offset a weakening of domestic popular support.
So as begin 2026, for those of us of peaceful disposition grasping desperately at any straws of hope at what seems like the total meltdown of world order and common sense, bizarrely it is perhaps in the American President’s obsession with oil that our salvation will come.
This year Eurasia Group's Top Risks 2026 was hideously predictable. Risk 1, the US President does what the hell he wants within the US, Risk 3, the US President does what the hell he wants on the world stage. Risk 6, the US President rewards whoever he wants. Plus Risk 5, Russia intensifies hybrid war against Europe. A world ruled by individuals of zero moral compass. Truly scary. And that’s before you read Risk 9 on AI against humanity and Risk 10 on water conflict.
But look at Risk 2. ‘Washington is asking the world to buy 20th-century energy while Beijing offers 21st-century infrastructure.’
There will only be one winner here and that has been clear for at least 3 years since renewables became the cheapest form of energy generation. If renewables are indeed the power of peace, peace is in the process of choosing us. Oil is dead - it will become as economically obsolete as Britain’s 18th century canal network. It is only a matter of time.
Of course it means that US President’s actions are not remotely in the best interests of the American people. But I think we’ve known this all along, not withstanding how many voted for him. The only thing he is interested in is himself.